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JSA Reports: Jason Truong

As many of you may be aware, Saturday September 26th, 2009 was the 5th Annual Joe Shuster Awards. I’ve been a part of the Executive Committee since October 2008, and this was my first awards ceremony in that role. I was a part of the Nominating Committee back in 2006 and 2008 (for the 2nd and 4th years, respectively), and voluntarily helped out with the Eligible List in 2007 (year 3).

This year, with me in one the Executive roles of this committee, and my pessimistic mentality, had me thinking… “Aw man, I’m gonna ****** this up somehow.” Of course, not intentionally, I’d never do something like that. It’s just, I figured I’d accidentally screw up somehow.

….

….

…. and then I agreed to be the Cameraman recording the Awards Ceremony.

Now, seriously speaking, I honestly didn’t know what to expect on Saturday. When planning an event, you always have the thoughts in the back of your head, “Will this be successful?”, “Will people show up?”, etc. Questions like that were running through my head over and over again.

Thankfully, attendance looked pretty good. I don’t know if we did a head count, but it looked fairly busy in the Innis Town Hall Auditorium. Not a packed house, but it looked like attendance grew from last year. I could be wrong (anyone that attended both years, do you think attendance grew?)

We arrived fairly early in the afternoon to set up the Visions of an Icon: Wolverine Preview Gallery. Lots of nice pieces! Yours truly is featured in a few of the pieces by Noel Tuazon. :)

For the full gallery showing, check out SpeakEasy Toronto on November 5th, 2009. We’ll have all the pieces up for display. For those that have yet to submit a piece, there is still some time to get one done.

Sadly, I didn’t take too many pictures of the event. I spent most of the evening behind the table, selling prints, posters, books, etc. And when the Awards Ceremony started, I spent the entire time behind the video camera (Yes, I was actually the cameraman. No, I don’t know when you’ll get to see any of it. I don’t even know when I’ll get to see any of it).

The highlight of the Awards, Andy B. accepting the Outstanding Webcomics award on behalf of Cameron Stewart (who won for his webcomic, Sin Titulo). Hopefully someone recorded this, and will post this on YouTube. It was classic!

The after party was a fun event too. I didn’t get in till a little later, because of some of the auditorium clean-up. Apparently, there was roast beef deli meat there. That went quick, cause I found out the next day that there was roast beef. Lots of other tasty foods to eat. First time I tried deviled eggs, and I liked it!

I really do hope that everyone that attended had lots of fun and enjoyed the show. If you didn’t attend, try to make it to next year’s show. More info on that when it becomes available. Just keep checking the Joe Shuster Awards website.

Courtesy of Metro News: Dante Petitti reads amid festival-goers at The Word on The Street literary festival, held in and around Queen’s Park. He was reading a comic called The Possum, by Blair Kitchen. This is the festival’s 20th year.

The Word on the Street was the next event for the Joe Shuster Awards, taking place the day after the Awards Ceremony.

I won’t get too in-depth into this event, as I spent the bulk of the day, behind the table, selling books, most of the books were donated to the Awards by The Dragon. The rest were donated by various other sources.

Now, being behind the table… I’m not used to that stuff. I did it before at the Fan Appreciation Event earlier this year. I’m still not used to being behind the table, but it was a lot of fun today. People were there to buy books, and it looked like I was doing one heck of a job, with that jar of money being filled up.

And then Allison (Covey) came along, and took over. She was outgoing and interacting with those that came by. Me, I stood there and looked like my hot self.

Yeah, I said it! :p

I did also pick up a couple of commission sketches from Faith Erin Hicks, who was also at our booth, selling (as well as signing and sketching in) her two books, Zombies Calling and The War at Ellsmere. One of the commission sketches was for me, one for Danny. I’ll leave it to you to figure out which one belongs to me, and which one belongs to my bro.

Other creators that appeared at our booth, Dave Ross, Agnes Garbowska, David Day, and Steve Rolston.

This was our first time set up at the Word on the Street, and at the end of the day, this was a pretty successful event for the Joe Shuster Awards. Lots of people inquired about the awards. Lots of people leaving with the free buttons, postcards, and posters. Lots of people leaving with books that featured works by Canadian Creators.

And hopefully, most importantly, lots of people having fun. In my tired state of mind, I had a blast. Thanks to all that came by the booth!